Bio: Mary Markham

Mary Markham was born on the last day of December in 1776, daughter of Bernard Markham and Mary Harris of Chesterfield county Virginia. She was greeted by one
older sister, Martha, and two brothers, John and Bernard. Another sister, Catherine, had died at the age of five, just months before her birth. Her brother
Bernard would die at the age of three in the following year. Five more siblings followed her, but three of these died before the age of twelve. Court and
family records suggest that the Bernard Markham household took in several orphaned neices and nephews, so it must have been a house full of children.

I have no tangible evidence of formal education for the Markham children, but their business dealings and community involvement suggest that they were
literate. There is no indication that Markham family members, during the colonial period, had opportunity for classical or university educations. Instead
they may have attended some of the small local "schools" or classes that were occasionally taught by parish ministers. There, boys and girls alike might
learn to read, write, and do arithmetic. They might also have had tutors at home, or among their neighbors. From tutors boys might concentrate on higher
education skills. Girls were sometimes exposed to literature and language, but were more likely to learn music, dancing, drawing, and manners. Domestic
skills were often taught at home by mothers and aunts. Mary Markham probably had some of these opportunities. She was to marry into a family of education
and culture.

Bond was taken out for the marriage of Mary Markham and Linneaus Bolling on the 17th of December 1793. Linneaus Bolling was the son of Robert Bolling and
Susannah Watson of Buckingham county Virginia.

Lenias Bolling and Mary Markham, not of age, daughter of Bernard Markham who consents; Surety Robert Cary; 16 December 1793; Lenias Bolling of
Buckingham co.
[source] Marriage Bonds and Ministers Returns of Chesterfield County Virginia; Knorr.

After their marriage the young couple settled at one of the Bolling family homes in Buckingham county Virginia. Their primary family home may have been
"Whispering". They also lived at, or spent considerable time at "Chellowe". This beautiful home is still a private residence today.

We learn from the "Diary of William Bolling, 1836-1839" that Linneaus Bolling and Mary Markham were the "parents of ten children, five of whom died as
infants." This was the same story of joy and grief that her parents had faced. Their surviving children were: Robert Bolling, Susannah Pocahontas Bolling,
Phillip Archelous Bolling, Mary Bolling, and Linneaus Bolling jr. Their youngest surviving son, Linneaus jr, drowned in 1816 while a student at William and
Mary College in Williamsburg Virginia.

Linneaus Bolling and Mary Markham Bolling appear in the 1810 Census of Buckingham county Virginia with three children and thirty-five slaves. Linneaus Bolling
took several terms of service, representing Buckingham county in the Virginia House of Delegates, 1799-1800, 1810-11, 1821-22.

Mary Markham Bolling died on the 11th of December 1824, at the age of forty-eight years. Her youngest child was only about ten years of age. Her husband did
not remarry. Linneaus Bolling lived another eleven years, dying on the 7th of January 1836. I have not uncovered any information related to their
burial site.

Linneus Bolling, esq, died on the 7th inst age 63, at his residence in Buckingham co. Active and faithful magistrate, member of the General Assembly
1799-1800 and thereafter. He was a Republican of the Jeffersonian school and husband and father.
[source] The Lynchburg Virginian (Lynchburg, Virginia); 1 Feb 1836; Marriages and Deaths from Lynchburg Virginia Newspapers; Baber, Blunt,
Colins, 1980.

On a more personal note, Linneaus Bolling's first cousin, Col William Bolling of Bolling Hall in Goochland county Virginia, made note of the death of
Linneaus in a January 1836 diary entry:

Death of Linnaeus Bolling of Buckingham - my friend & relation took place 7th - a man of considerable acquirements, of eccentric opinions on many
subjects - a very sociable & agreeable companion and of highly respectable character. We were intimate in our youth, separated many years after we settled
in Life, till within a few years when our old attachments, which time had not changed, were renewed.
[source] Transcription of William Bolling's Diary by James S Patton.